Contents

Effect

In battle

Generation IV

Chatter inflicts damage and may confuse the target. If the move has recorded audio from its field move functionality, that audio will play for the move's sound effect instead of Chatot's regular cry.

If Chatter has no audio data (as is the case for wild and NPC-owned Chatot), the chance of confusion is 1%. Otherwise, the chance of confusing the foe is determined by the volume of the recording.

Generally, the higher the volume of the recording is, the higher the chance of confusion. The recording is stored as a 1000-byte structure within the game as a 4-bit PCM (pulse code modulation) recording. When a sound is recorded, 1984 8-bit samples of microphone input are taken at roughly 2000 samples per second. 16 zero bytes are appended onto the end of this recording to create a 2000 byte 8-bit PCM recording, which is then downsized to a 4-bit PCM recording via a translation table:

8-bit

-128

-127 - -112

-111 - -96

-95 - -80

-79 - -64

-63 - -48

-47 - -32

-31 - -16

-15 - 15

16 - 31

32 - 47

48 - 63

64 - 79

80 - 95

96 - 111

112 - 127

4-bit

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

To pack two 4-bit samples into a byte, the first sample takes up the lower four bits and the second sample takes up the upper 4 bits. Now, depending on the value of the 16th byte in the 1000-byte 4-bit PCM recording (corresponding to the 31st and 32nd samples from the original), the chance of confusion is as follows:

Value

Volume

Confusion odds

-31 or less

Medium

11%

-30 to 29

Low

1%

30 or more

High

31%

The volume level roughly corresponding to the specific values are given in the table. Note that since the sample is near the beginning of the recording, it is not necessary to maintain a high volume throughout the recording.

Generation V

Generation V games record 8000 8-bit samples at 8000 samples per second for its recordings, and convert every fourth sample taken from these, starting with the first sample, to the 1000-byte 4-bit PCM recording in the same manner as that of Generation IV. However, instead of one byte determining the confusion odds, the exclusive or of three bytes, the 100th, 500th, and 700th bytes (corresponding to the 397th, 401st, 1997th, 2001st, 2797th and 2801st samples of the original recording), are taken. The odds of confusion are calculated as follows:

Generation VI

Chatter's power was changed from 60 to 65. From this generation onward, sound can no longer be recorded. Instead, the move will always confuse the target. Despite no longer being able to record sound, Chatter still cannot be copied by Sketch.

Outside of battle

In Generations IV and V, Chatter can be used as a field move to record audio using the Nintendo DS's microphone. This audio will then play as Chatot's cry, as well as when Chatot uses Chatter. Audio recorded for Chatter gets distorted, possibly as a failsafe to prevent inappropriate language from being played back.

If Chatot is deposited in the PC, the recorded audio is reset to Chatot's default cry.

In the manga

In the Pokémon Adventures manga

Chatot angrily babbles at the opponent, causing it to become confused or hold its ears in pain, or Chatot opens its mouth and releases a loud sound from its beak, causing the opponent to hold its ears in pain.

Trivia

Chatter is the one of only three moves in the core series that cannot be Sketched. This is presumably because, as a field move, if Chatter is used by a Pokémon other than Chatot, that Pokémon's cry will not be temporarily changed to the recorded version even if audio is recorded. This is because recording audio via Chatter is programmed to switch Chatter's user to its alternative cry[citation needed], and only Chatot is programmed to have its alternative cry read from the audio data. Despite all of this, Chatter still remains not Sketchable even in Generation VI, where vocals can no longer be recorded.